


The Sound of the Universe is Etched into the Ice

by Lazchan



Category: Young Wizards - Diane Duane, Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Gen, I hope y'all like this, Young Wizards fusion, why self
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-10 20:04:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10446306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lazchan/pseuds/Lazchan
Summary: A Yuri on Ice, Young Wizards Fusion fic. Yuuri could always hear the ice and sometimes he spoke back. It wasn't until he was older that he realized not everyone could hear it.





	1. Chapter 1

The first time Yuuri heard the ice talk to him, he was only four and had a big imagination. He had been watching Yuuko skate over the smooth ice, carving words and symbols that was almost a language. It wasn't Japanese, but if he squinted and lay down close to the clean, sharp smell of the ice, it was almost visible in shining letters.

 

_She always skates stories_

 

Yuuri started and backed away a little, his eyes wide, but the slow, clear voice in his mind continued as if talking to himself. It almost sounded sleepy and Yuuri found himself closing his eyes in response to the feel of it.

 

_Others skate around, but she always has a story to tell. Why don't you skate as well?_

 

"Mom says I'm too young, still," Yuuri said quietly, whispering the words. It was only polite to talk back to someone who asked you a question. He touched a hand to the ice, feeling the vibrations of Yuuko and Takeshi moving around, their instructor giving them helpful tips to stay upright.

 

_You are very young—but then again, you can grow and then skate on me. I can see you have your own stories. I would love to hear them._

"Doesn't the ice skates hurt you, though?" Yuuri asked, brow furrowed in worry. He hurt if he got cut or scratched and the smoothness of the ice was marred by pricks and trips and the sharp blades that moved through it.

 

_You have to have pain to create beauty and look at what marks are there now. A story is there—one that is temporary and erased at the end of the day, but a new one will come tomorrow. It's worth it to see and feel the stories that the skaters give me and show others._

Yuuri thought about pulled muscles and stubbed toes from his lessons with Minako-sensei and nodded. He understood that—He wanted to say more, but hands snatched him up from behind, pulling him away from the ice. He twisted his face to look up at his older sister, Mari.

 

"Time to go home, kiddo. It looked like you were falling asleep on the ice rink."

 

"I was talking to the ice," he said, frowning at being pulled away from someone that felt so _nice_ to talk to.

 

"Is that so?"  she gave him the faint,  amused look that all adults seemed to share when they didn't believe what a kid was saying. "Well, you're going to have to say goodbye for now. You'll come back another day."

 

_I will be waiting. If there is anything I am truly good at it, it's patience. I'll wait for you to come back and dance for me._

 

 

~

 

When Yuuri is seven, he comes back to skate for the first time—he's come to the rink many times over the years, but this is the first time he's allowed to lace up skates and take his first steps onto the ice. He's not scared; the ice and him have been friends for years.

 

 _I knew you would finally come to skate !_ There is an almost jubilant tone to the voice that slid over his senses, froze along his ears and trickled into his throat. _What story are you going to tell me?_

 

Yuuri wasn’t sure yet and he was uncertain of speaking out loud; too many people were watching now and he has asked before, but no one else had ever heard the ice talk before. "I'm not very good," he whispered. "I don't know what story to tell yet."  He didn’t want to disappoint his friend that had been waiting three years for him to skate.

 

_You are making your first steps. That is a story all on its own. Look down at what you've already carved into me._

 

Yuuri looked down and saw the sure, deep cuts that he made into the ice and his face split into a wide smile and he couldn't help but make a spin, hands held out and when he didn’t fall, he spoke both to the ice and to Yuuko, who was watching him, hands clasped to her chest. "Ta-da!"

 

He heard Yuuko's praises and the felt the slow, deep satisfaction of the ice, right before Takashi shoved at him and his skates slipped from underneath him and he hit the ice hard. He was dismayed at both falling on the ice and failing in trying to impress, but the cold seeped through his hands, soothing him and he gulped away the tears.

 

_Shh—everyone falls and you get back up from it and learn to do it again and again. Now—are you going to take that?_

 

Yuuri didn't realize the ice _could_ tease, but there was something underneath that hinted at a light/dark sort of humor and Yuuri caught the image of wintery days, people walking about in the wind and shoes and boots slipping on patches of ice that peeked in between lumps of snow. The ice wasn't something to be trifled with, even as steady as it was.

 

He gave him to Takashi as good as Takashi gave to him and he got back up again. He wasn’t going to let this keep him down.

 

It would be last time he heard the ice for years.

 

 

~

 

It was after his Ordeal that he understood more and while he didn't always go back to the same patch of ice— _all ice was connected, anyway_ —he went back after he wanted to relax and speak to his first friend.

 

"I … I'm sorry I didn't speak to you for so long," Yuuri said, leaning against the wall of the rink, letting the cold of the ice seep through his bones, calming the swirl of thoughts in his head. "I think I lost your voice for awhile."

 

_Everyone does—or they pretend they can't hear me. They grow up and forget, but they still make stories that I pass on to others. I'm glad you came back, though…_

Yuuri nodded, closing his eyes and just feeling the pulse of the ice, the water that formed up the edges and the life that connected it all. Even if the ice was smoothed over night after night, the echoes of the skaters movements was etched deep below, layers upon layers of stories.  "You were teaching me even when I couldn't really hear you, weren't you?" he asked.

 

 _You hear best when you're skating,_ the hum of the voice echoed through him. _Even if it wasn't the Speech as you knew it, you were still skating it. I'm honored that you learned so much that you were prepared for your Ordeal when the time came._

 

Yuuri shuddered at the mention of it; images sparked behind his eyelids and he could see the firey visage of the Lone One bearing down at him, melting every shield and defense he had up, until he had found the courage and strength within himself to face him. One less frozen tundra was in danger now because of his efforts and Yuuri was determined to do more to prevent the Universe from collapsing upon itself like snow banks in the sun.

 

He already had the images of spells inside his mind, steps that could transpose to the ice to help with his home, with the people near him. It sounded almost ridiculous; using dance and skating to slow the death of the Universe, but the ice _knew_ , with each ice cap that melted and slid eternally into the water, with each patch of story drifting into the oceans and lakes….

 

He was determined to make his work _tangible;_ he wanted to make a difference in the way that was simple and easy and used no one's energy but his own. He'd take help from others to make the movements as perfect as he needed them to be, but the string of letters that was the Speech would all be of his own carving. He only wished there was someone else that could help him understand ice wizardry more; he knew that there were only so many that were wizards of it, but not so many humans and Yuuri wasn't ready to go off-Planet yet. He would learn from home and the different patches of ice, both in the rinks and out in the frozen winter time.

 

Yuuri was about to ask about other wizards that specialized in ice and snow and the sleeping areas of the earth, when Yuuko's voice called out to him. Yuuri got to his feet, easy as breathing and pressed a hand to the ice as he got up.

 

"I'll be back," he promised, "I think I have a lot more ideas and I… I'd like your help," he said shyly. "There are a lot of things I want to do and I have a feeling that you'll be feeling a lot of the stories I want to tell."

 

 _And you're sharing them with those you love, which is all that we've ever wanted._   There was a gentle ripple in the ice and Yuuri laughed as he was gently pushed off. _Now go and connect with your friends. You can't always just talk to us,_  the ice chided. _We'll always be here._

 

Yuuri wished that he could sometimes, but he had learned during his Ordeal that _talking_ to other people and accepting their help and letting himself realize he had helped them in return, was just as important as anything else in the world.

 

He could feel the vestiges of ice lingering around, the coldness never quite leaving the rink and Yuuri could always breathe easier in the cold air then he did in the damp warmth of his home at the onsen. Even in the locker room, where Yuuko was bouncing up on her toes as the Junior World's Figure Skating Championship was on.

 

Yuuko's expression was wide and open and happy as she pointed out Viktor Nikiforov, gliding around the ice as if he was floating on top of it, hair steaming out and hands extended to the sky. Yuuri was caught by the beauty of his skating and it hurt almost—he wanted to be able to show that same sort of grace.

 

The coldness gathered around him for a moment in an embrace and it seemed to tug his attention toward Viktor again, but not at the person himself, but the ice beneath his feet. Yuuri stared. For a moment, he thought he saw the shining, silver script of the Speech carved into the ice beneath Viktor's blades.

 

Yuuri was determined to meet this Viktor face to face.


	2. Chapter 2

Yuri was glad there was no one around when the cat first sauntered up to him; there were spells to make one invisible and all, but with no one else around, Yuri wasn’t looking forward to trying to explain to any locals why he was talking either with the air or with the strays that hung around the rink. 

“Have you seen the other wizard yet?” The cat watched him, whiskers pushed forward in amusement. It had to be some sort of interesting wizard for one of the cats to remark on it, rather than Yuri stumble in on his own. Still…

“I hope you’re not talking about that  _ sswiass _ ,” Yuri sniffed. He kept his voice low, speech as careful as he could make it as he spoke in Ailurin, wary of anyone hearing him using the Speech and being able to understand him. “I already know about him--you can’t avoid his spells in the Manual.”

“No, it’s a new one. Not local-- a skater like you.” Not local could mean a lot of things, but ‘a skater like you’ could almost certainly mean that he was from Earth. Yuri hadn’t seen anyone on vacation skating; it would have been a mess of logistics that he didn’t even want to think about. “He’s inside now.” There was a distinct tone of amusement to his voice and Yuri just shook his head. He understood cats far better than he did humans, but sometimes, they purposely kept things vague  _ because _ they were cats. 

“... thanks for the information,” he said finally. He hadn’t felt the presence of another wizard nearby, but his sense of the ice could have overwhelmed almost anything, his focus on the upcoming competition; the easy dismissal that any other wizard was the one that he was trying to avoid. He just hoped that nothing was dire enough to change his status to active; the Universe and making it right was important, of course-- but he was also trying to medal to move further up into the ranks, damnit. 

_ This other wizard can handle it. Maybe he’s on errantry, maybe he’s just on a break like I am. He’s probably not all that interesting…. _ he mused over these thoughts as he said goodbye and headed into the rink. He scowled at the temperature inside. It was far too warm for it to be good. This area was going through a heat wave and the rink wasn’t the newest and he was aware the air conditioning was struggling.  _ I hope the ice will hold up…maybe I can do something…. _ He didn’t have his skates on him and he was suddenly aware of another person on the ice. 

He was moving in deliberate spirals and Yuri could feel the power from here-- with each cut of his blades into the ice, another curl of the Speech was formed, until the area seemed to glow underneath his feet. He took another look around, but no one else seemed to notice; it was only visible to wizards, it seemed. Still… his eyes narrowed. This had to be the one that the cat was talking about.

_ Is he actually skating the entire spell?  _ He thought in shock. It took incredible control to skate at all -- it took another set of skill to have the letters of the Speech written out in the sharp edges of ice skates. 

There was a moment when the Universe seemed to hold its breath and then everything settled down with an almost audible snap. Within moments, the temperature of the stadium seemed to drop, little by little, until the people around them seemed more comfortable and not quite so on edge from the unexpected heat. 

The other skater breathed in deep, hands resting on his knees and smiling at the faint applause that came from the various spectators that liked to watch practices.  _ I hope he’s not planning to do any spells while actually performing… _ the only one that had ever done that was Viktor and it hadn’t even been a full spell, just a minor protection against harm and one that was just for him. This spell seemed to encompass the entire stadium, bolstered by the marks carved in the ice. 

He waited for the skater to step off the ice, eyes narrowed on him, wanting to demand just what he thought he was doing, but he went to the exit on the opposite end of the rink and was soon lost among the small crowd of people. 

“Ugh, I am going to actually have to  _ look him up _ ,” Yuri muttered to himself. There wasn’t time for such things, not really-- not when he had to practice and get his own body in gear for the competition. Still, he could ask a direct source without having to pull out his manual and dig through for wizards that might not even be listed. 

He wasn’t concerned about what people would say if they saw him kneeling next to the ice, pressing a palm against the frozen surface. All skaters had their quirks and rituals and this was by far, one of the tamest looking ones.  _ Who? _ He asked silently. 

The ice didn’t so much have a name as a presence; something familiar and friendly, one that knew the ice as well as anyone that  _ wasn’t _ ice could. He prodded a little, the name had to have been written in the Script of his wizardry and it only took a few more moments before Yuri got the name.

_ Katsuki Yuuri, huh? _

It was better to talk to him sooner rather than later, but nothing was dire enough that needed the intervention of a wizard, much less the three that were here now. He refused to tell Viktor about him, reasoning that if the Powers wanted him to know, they would have given him the information.

Viktor wasn’t even here skating; he was here as support and Yuri mentally rolled his eyes at the thought. He didn’t need it, not as a skater or a wizard. This was for  _ Juniors _ and Viktor was beyond that already, but if Yuri had his choice, this would be his last year in Juniors as well. He flicked his glance over to Viktor, who had a steady gaze on the ice, watching the first group of skaters practicing.  _ Real _ practice this time, not the spell that the other Yuuri had been working. 

It shouldn’t be surprising that Yuuri had the same sort of intracity in his regular skating as he did when he had been working the spell. The Powers wouldn’t just make something up out of nothing and Yuri found himself admiring the smooth steps that moved into spins that moved into… He winced when Yuuri moved into a jump and fudged the landing. The next one worked and then again, until the first group moved off the ice so that the first skater could start. Yuri pushed any thoughts of wizardry to the back of his mind. 

~

It was after the short program and the other skaters mingling that Yuri finally managed to snag a moment to get closer to Yuuri. He snuck away from Viktor and got closer to the other, when no one else was around. He looked so unassuming, so  _ ordinary _ and there was still only that sense around him that said  _ figure skater _ and not wizard, that Yuri was still a little confused. Still...

“How did you keep everyone else out of the rink?” It had to have been a handy trick and Yuri wasn’t above using the same one to get practice time alone. He wasn’t crazy enough to skate out spells as intricate as Yuuri had done, but there was something to be said for being able to speak the words of the Speech and enhancing the movements with grace and poise. 

Yuuri blinked at him in confusion, head tilted to the side as if he was trying to assess the words. Yuri used English on a whim; he wasn’t about to risk using the Speech when someone could just wander on by.  _ They’ll think he speaks Russian or I speak Japanese or any of the other myriad of languages that is around here.  _ It would be worse than being caught speaking to the local feline population. 

“When I was practicing?” The words were almost muddled with an accent, but it was in English as well and Yuuri bit his lip and looked ready to answer, when his eyes widened and moved to someone behind Yuri. He didn’t even have to turn around to acknowledge the annoying presence that draped himself around Yuri’s shoulders. 

“Yuri~ you vanished so quickly,” Viktor turned his head and beamed at the other Yuuri. “And you already found yourself a friend! I knew you would find more friends here than just the cats. Isn’t this another Yuuri?”

“Yes, and we were having a discussion,” Yuri snapped. He could be entirely wrong about this Yuuri, he didn’t want VIktor to let anything slip and make them seem like complete morons, but Yuuri took another breath and then a step back. 

“You’re… you’re _Viktor_ _Nikiforov!i_ You write more spells dealing with ice than any human wizard out there! You were the one that showed it was possible to skate spells!” HIs eyes were shining and Yuri felt irrationally irritated and he felt his hair bristle in annoyance. 

“You recognize the old man as a wizard but not  _ me _ ?” He griped. “I saw you skating first and you didn’t even know I was one…” He blinked and then turned red and then elbowed Viktor. “Why do you always get all the credit, old man?” he demanded. 

“Yuri, I’m not old,” Viktor pouted, “I’ve just been doing more since I’ve been working longer.” He held out a hand to Yuuri, smiling brilliantly. “ _ Dai _ , cousin,” his smile was warm and open. “We shouldn’t be so formal here, right?” he asked. 

Yuuri shook his head and his gaze flicked toward the ice for a moment and then back to the two of them. “I… I….” he took a deep breath and the air around him seemed to chill and he took another step back. “I have to go.”

Yuri blinked as he and Viktor were suddenly left alone and Yuri turned and smacked him harder. “Why did you have to pick  _ now _ to show up?” he demanded. “I was trying to get to know him. He skated an entire spell on the ice while  _ doing his practice _ …”

“Oh-- he’s the one the ice likes so much,” VIktor pressed a finger to his lips, looking thoughtful. “I was trying to ask for days to get the ice to look after the skaters for major injuries and when I skated, I could already tell there was a protection spell on it.”

“... a protection-- what… I thought he fixed the malfunctioning air conditioning,” Yuri barely kept himself from calling it something less polite; he didn’t have the affinity with machines that some people did, but he did with the cold and it wasn’t  _ nice  _ to insult something that was just trying to do its job. “Those shitty workers were slacking off and taking out payouts instead of maintaining this place!” Humans, were fair game, however. 

“He asked the ice to make sure no one got any serious injuries,” Viktor laughed and tugged Yuri towards the exit. It wasn’t as if they wouldn’t see Yuuri again in the next couple of days. “And he’s read my spells!” He beamed. “I wonder what sort of information is on  _ him _ in the manual….”

Yuri just shook his head, annoyed all over again and then wondered…  _ just what is going on in the Universe that three wizards that work with ice are needed? _

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Wizard Yuuri](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12458739) by [neverjay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/neverjay/pseuds/neverjay)




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